


Brothertale: Papyrus

by AmyMay2



Series: Brothertale [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:50:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5556752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyMay2/pseuds/AmyMay2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans isn't the only one to remember things from the previous timelines. Due to some meddling by Frisk, Papyrus may even know more than Sans now. But what is he meant to do with his knowledge? And what did Frisk mean by 'You can't trust me'?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pasta and Phone Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW, writing for Pap was so much harder than writing for Sans for some reason. Still, this is the more interesting part of the story (and the actual reason I started writing this). Sans' sections are more standard for this kind of fic. Well, they are for now, anyway.

Papyrus was searching the second fridge for a space for the newest container of spaghetti. He had made too much, again. He had been making too much ever since the human left the underground, and was saving their portions for when they returned. Just as he managed to close the fridge, his cell rang. The caller ID revealed that it was the human!  
“AH! HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WAS JUST NOW THINKING OF YOU!” Papyrus said. He listened for the background noise, trying to tell where the human was, but couldn’t hear anything. “IS THAT THE SURFACE? ARE YOU HAVING FUN?”  
“Pa-papyrus...” the human said. Papyrus was surprised. He had never heard the human talk before. “I n-need to talk to S-Sans.”  
“SANS AT GRILLBY’S AT THE MOMENT! BUT YOU CAN TALK TO ME!”  
“No, no, I c-can’t... Please, there’s no time. They’re about to get through,” the human sobbed.  
“HUMAN, YOU ARE BEGINING TO WORRY ME,” Papyrus said, grabbing his cape and hurrying outside. “WHERE ARE YOU? WHATEVER IS HAPPENING, I WILL HELP!”  
“Don’t, Papyrus, I d-don’t want to drag you into-” the human let out a gasp of pain. “N-no, I have no choice n-now... I’m s-sorry, but... ‘remember it next time.’ I’ll be b-back soon, okay? L-look out for me at the r-ruins.”  
“YOU’RE COMING BACK?” Despite being worried about the human, Papyrus couldn’t hide his excitement.  
“Y-yeah. But this is the most important part, Papyrus. You c-can’t trust me.”  
“HUMAN, WHAT-” CLICK. Papyrus stood in the snow for a second, listening to the dial tone, before heading straight for the door to the ruins. It was still closed, but he could wait. He sat and stared until he fell asleep.

Papyrus was woken up, back in his own room, by screaming. It took a second for him to realize that it was Sans’ voice. He leapt out of bed and ran across the hall, not bothering to knock before flinging open Sans’ door. Blue magic had taken hold of everything in the room, and Papyrus had to use his own magic to stop himself from floating too. His brother was floating above his bed, scraping his fingers over his right eye socket and screaming. Still, he had an eerie grin on his face.  
“SANS?” Papyrus yelled over him. Sans looked right at him and, thankfully, snapped out of it. It was always a risk getting Sans’ attention while he was breaking down. To be honest, whenever that happened it made Papyrus a little afraid.  
“p- pap...?” Sans gasped, looking confused through that grin. Seeing his brother look so fragile wrenched at Papyrus’ heart (was that the real reason?). He was about to go and give Sans a hug, but his brother was already up and making excuses. “no worries, bro. it’s just magic build-up. i kinda forgot to use any between naps yesterday.”  
Papyrus vaguely remembered Sans telling him that the day before, too. “SANS, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT FORGETTING TO USE MAGIC? THIS IS BECOMING ANOTHER HABIT OF YOURS!” he chided. He had said something about that, right? He remembered...  
He remembered...?  
“sorry. i’ll go work it off now.” Sans said, snapping Papyrus back to reality.  
“IT’S QUITE LATE. SHOULD YOU BE OUT WALKING NOW?” he pointed out, wondering if Sans even realized that.  
Sans looked back at Papyrus, and he could _feel_ the pun coming. “ if i don’t go now, it’ll leave me feeling a bit... blue!” He said, winking and pointing at his glowing left eye. Papyrus groaned, his irritation distracting him from the suspicion that something was wrong. He went back to his room, going back to his theoretical battle scenario (hadn’t he been sleeping?).  
He was halfway through a battle, but he couldn’t remember where he was up to so he just started a new one. He set up as many puzzles and enemies as he could, lining them up one by one instead of putting them all together this time. Taking the hero, who was easy to tell apart from the others because of their heroic cape, he took to the first battle and began to FIGHT. But... could the hero ACT, instead? He ran through the battles in his head, ACTING and SPARING the first and second enemy without too much difficulty. They didn’t want to fight for some reason. The third one was harder. It did want to fight, but using a tactical retreat the hero could SPARE them. The next enemy just had to be outlasted or charmed into letting the hero pass. And the last one... the last one... Asgore couldn’t be spared.  
“OH. NOW I REMEMBER. THE HUMAN... SAID THEY WOULD BE AT THE RUINS.” What had made him forget? He decided to ask Undine if they had forgotten too, since Sans was busy. He flipped open his phone and paused over the speed dial, his eyes caught on the date. “WELL THAT... EXPLAINS THINGS?” It was the day before the human had arrived in Snowdin.


	2. Dust and Mercy

Papyrus was bouncing up and down with excitement, waiting for the night to end. Once he got over the confusion (he hadn’t figured out exactly what had happened, but he had decided to just accept the things he did know), he had been quite excited to meet the human again. Perhaps this time he could convince them to stay so that whatever had been happening to them during that phone call... didn’t. As soon as it seemed like a reasonable time, he bounded downstairs and was surprised to see Sans was up.  
“TODAY IS THE DAY!” he said. “WE’RE GOING TO MEET A HUMAN!”  
“can you feel it... in your bones?” Sans asked.  
“WAS THAT A PUN?” Papyrus asked, glaring. It wasn’t an overly _unusual_ response, but he hadn’t tried to convince him to give up the search for their human like he normally did. Had he forgotten as well? Papyrus wondered if he should try to remind his brother about what happened, but decided against it. One look at how he winced when he moved proved that he had enough on his plate. Papyrus didn’t want to worry him, and Sans had a habit of overthinking these things. He threw on his cape as Sans stretched, then they both headed out for guard duty. Papyrus could feel the excitement in the air. It was definitely the day! But before they left, Sans had to go down to the basement, like every morning. He didn’t seem to be heading there, though. Instead, he was following Papyrus, looking tired and distracted. Just how much had he forgotten? After a moment, Sans caught Papyrus’ worried stare.  
“... what? ” he asked.  
“AREN’T YOU GOING TO GO CHECK YOUR BASEMENT FRIENDS?” Papyrus asked. Sans had told him a while ago not to go down there since he was renting the place out to a few friends from Hotland.  
“oh yeah. can’t forget them, can i? stay here while i have a look. they’re pretty shy, so if they see you they might run off,” Sans said, which would make this the tenth time he had told Papyrus about how shy his friends were. Sans walked off to the basement, giving Papyrus some time to himself. Mostly he just stood there, practicing his ‘NYEH HEH HEH’. It had to be perfect, after all. He watched as the children started a snowball fight. Monster Kid, having no arms, was losing but didn’t back down. Maybe when they were older, Papyrus would ask Undyne to train them.  
Sans took a while to come back and seemed even more distracted than before. Maybe he just needed a task to focus on. “QUICKLY, SANS! WE MUST SEE TO OUR PUZZLES! IT HAS BEEN QUITE SOME TIME SINCE YOU RECALIBRATED YOURS!” Papyrus said as he approached.  
“howsabout you get yours all set up first? your puzzles are cooler than mine anyway, and one of us has to keep a lookout.” Sans was a dedicated lazybones, that was for sure. But the shadows under his eye sockets made it hard to argue.  
“HMM, ALRIGHT... BUT DON’T THINK YOU CAN AVOID PUZZLEMAKING FOREVER! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus said before he ran off. This was going to be the perfect day!

It took a while to make sure every puzzle was how he remembered it. Once he was done, Papyrus rushed over to the ruins door, eager to welcome the human back home. But the human was already with Sans. This wasn’t part of the plan at all! The human was meant to have a familiar experience, and he couldn’t remember them being there. But, Undine had taught him to adapt to anything!  
“SANS! HAVE YOU FOUND A HUMAN YET?” He asked pretending not to see the human standing next to him.  
“yeah.”  
Well, that didn’t help. “REALLY? WOWIE! GUESS THAT’S SETTLED!” he said, and ran off before Sans ruined his surprise any more. He waited impatiently on the road where they had first met the human. After a while, Sans stepped out from behind a tree (it looked like the space around where he stepped out from was wrinkled for a moment).  
“AH, SANS, YOU MADE IT! ISN’T THIS EXCITING?” he asked. Sans nodded and looked back along the path where the human would come from. There was an awkward silence before Papyrus turned to his brother and asked, “SO SANS, WHEN’S THE HUMAN SHOWING UP? I WANT TO LOOK MY SUNDAY BEST... OR AT LEAST MY TUESDAY PRETTY-GOOD.”  
“don’t you only have one outfit?” Sans asked, completely missing the hilarious wordplay. Papyrus would have to make a more obvious joke.  
“YEAH, BUT I COULD STYLE MY HAIR!”  
“oh. right. good idea,” Sans said. He chuckled a little at that one. “say, why don’t you look over there?”  
The both spun around, probably a few times more than they should have. “SANS! OH MY GOD!” he whispered as quietly as he could (which wasn’t very quietly at all). “I’M DIZZY. WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?”  
“behold,” They turned around to see-  
“WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME TO LOOK AT A ROCK?”  
Sans shrugged. “hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”  
“OH MY GOD!” Papyrus yelled, scaring a family of bird monsters out of their home all the way in Hotland. He almost ran over and hugged the human on the spot, but managed to keep the illusion going. “I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS.”  
“well. it’s not a rock.”  
“NOT A ROCK...?” That seemed like a good enough time to ‘discover’ that it was the human. “OH NO! BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION! THAT MEANS IT’S A HUMAN!” Papyrus cleared his throat and launched into the speech he had prepared. “HUMAN! PREPARE YOURSELF! FOR HIGH JINKS! FOR LOW JINKS! DANGERS! PUZZLES! CAPERS! JAPERS! BEING CAPTURED! AND OTHER SORTS OF FUN ACTIVITES. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED... IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!”  
He ran off to make sure he arrived at the first puzzle before the human. They were going to have so much fun! He spoke with Sans (who kept up quite well despite not running at all) until the human reached them. It took much longer than he remembered, but perhaps they were busy talking to all the other monsters again?  
“OH-HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!” he said as the human arrived, complimenting himself on his impeccable timing. “IN ORDER TO STOP YOU... MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!" The human didn’t seem impressed, and walked right into the maze without even listening to his explanation. “FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS... THE... INVISIBLE... UHHHHHHH...? HMMM... YOU MUST BE HAVING CULTURE SHOCK.” Papyrus decided. After all, the human hadn’t seemed very confident in their puzzle solving ability the first time, so there must not be many puzzles on the surface. Could he blame them if they were a bit rusty? Maybe explaining the rich history of the puzzle would help. “YOU SEE, WHERE I COME FROM, IT’S A LOVING TRADITION. TO SUFFER THROUGH HORRIBLE PUZZLES FOR NO REASON. SO, UH, JUST WALK BACK THERE, AND...” Still, the human walked forward. Perhaps they weren’t in the mood? Papyrus sighed and decided to try the next one. It was one of Sans’, so it had to be good. If he remembered to recalibrate it, anyway.

The human just hadn’t done any of the puzzles. It wasn’t like them. They weren’t acting like themself at all. Papyrus had retreated to his room to re-think his strategy. He had tried mapping it out with his action figures, but he couldn’t manage to send any of them back in time, so it was hard to visualize. So he stuck to pacing instead.  
Perhaps the human had forgotten too? Maybe that was why they had said not to trust them, since they weren’t friends yet, and they seemed... meaner than before. Well, all they needed was a good friend and he was sure they would soften up in no time! He was about to go talk to the human when Sans walked in.  
“hey bro,” he said. Papyrus returned to pacing as he talked.  
“I’M NOT SURE WHAT I DID WRONG, SANS! THEY WERE MEANT TO LOVE PUZZLES!” Papyrus sighed. While he had already decided not to tell Sans about the time shenanigans, if he worded it vaguely enough he could still talk about the problems it was causing.  
“heheh, i guess they’re just weird. they didn’t like my jokes, either.” Sans said, sitting on the bed.  
“WELL, I SUPPOSE THEY AREN’T A _TOTAL_ WEIRDO, ” Papyrus muttered. Only Asgore’s shaven-clone-queen liked Sans’ puns. Papyrus was about to say as much, leaving out the part about exactly _who_ it was that liked his puns, when Sans gasped in pain. “ SANS?” Papyrus said, pausing. He took a tentative step toward his brother. Could it have been another overload so soon? He had seemed fine before.  
“it’s fine, d-don’t worry... look, pap, can you stay here for a bit?” Sans asked, sweating and clutching his eye.  
“BRO-”  
“i’ll be right back. just... please?”  
Reluctantly, Papyrus nodded. Sans stumbled out of the room, hopefully heading somewhere where he could use up his excess magic. Papyrus waited for a while, switching between pacing and nervously moving his action figures around. After a while, he just couldn’t take it. He had to do something, and if he couldn’t help Sans then he was going to help the human. With a silent apology to Sans for breaking his promise, he slipped out of the house and into the constant blizzard to the east of Snowdin and waited. Finally, he could see the silhouette of the human.  
“HALT, HUMAN!” But the human didn’t listen. Papyrus was pretty sure something was very wrong. “HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I’M TALKING TO YOU! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY. FIRST: YOU’RE A FREAKING WEIRDO! NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES. BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE... THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER. IT FEELS... LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH. HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU!” He had already seen how great the human could be, so their recent actions were all the more disappointing. “EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!” The human walked forward again. The way their silhouette tilted their head to the side and their shoulders moved as if laughing at his heartfelt speech was not like them. They would have halted when he said ‘halt’. He was really starting to worry. "HEY, QUIT MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! HUMAN, I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! BUT WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS... WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!” The human moved forward again, this time looking straight at him. It made him nervous, but shouldn’t friends trust each other? He knew they were still friends, he just had to prove it. “I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING. ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE? WOWIE! MY LESSONS ARE ALREADY WORKING! I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!” The human moved in close, and Papyrus had trouble controlling his breathing. They were friends, so the human would, of course-  
He heard the grating sound of metal against bone for only a moment before the perpetual snowstorm stopped. He looked around, confused (hadn’t he just died?). The air around the seemed to be wrinkled, just like before when Sans came out from behind that tree. It was only now that Papyrus realized that Sans couldn’t have gotten there without Papyrus seeing him. Something was going on that he didn’t fully understand, but before he could decide what to do about it, he realized that there was a trembling human hugging him. They were mumbling, “-sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry-”  
Gently, Papyrus removed their arms from around him and lifted them onto his back. This was his human, alright. As they walked back to his house, the wrinkling intensified then smoothed itself out, bringing people into view that Papyrus could have sworn were not there before, even though he knew there were always there. It was confusing to watch, but perhaps the human would know what was going on. They could talk about it over a mug of hot spaghetti.


	3. Peeking and Chatting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! Because I'm a dedicated little insomniac, this chapter got done way earlier than I thought it would! Make sure to point out if you see any mistake though, because I've only just finished proofreading at 2AM, so something may have slipped through the cracks.

Papyrus had left the human on the couch while he made the pasta and poured it into three separate mugs. They had stopped muttering to themselves.  
“THIS HAS BEEN QUITE A CONFUSING DAY,” he started, hoping to get a reaction from the human. They nodded, still unable to look directly at him as they took their mug. “HM. WELL, I’LL JUST GO GIVE THIS OTHER MUG TO SANS, AND THEN WE MAY TALK ABOUT IT?” The human flinched as Sans was mentioned, but nodded.  
Papyrus was halfway up the stairs when the human spoke. “Actually... can I talk to both of you?”  
“OF COURSE!” Papyrus said. “SANS! THE HUMAN WOULD LIKE TO TALK WITH US! THERE HAVE BEEN MANY CONFUSING EVENTS, AND I THINK THEY WISH TO EXPLAIN!”  
Sans slipped out of his room. He was looking much less tired and a lot healthier than Papyrus remembered, and that creepy grin was replaced with a gentler smile. “confusing events, hey?” he said, looking down at the human. They squirmed in their seat, but nodded and muttered something. Papyrus walked down and sat next to them, putting a comforting hand on their back, while Sans just skipped the steps entirely and jumped down. “you’ll have to run that by me again, kid.”  
They were blushing furiously. “I am the legendary fartmaster.” Papyrus had to stop himself from laughing.  
“wow. that’s... uh... really childish. but are you sure you want to talk about that now?” he asked. Even though he had laughed, he wasn’t really smiling.  
The human nodded. “Sorry. I, um... Well, Papyrus already...”  
Sans’ eye lights went completely out. “ **What did you do?** ”  
“I’m sorry! Things were happening so fast, and there wasn’t any time to get into contact with you, and Papyrus was there and I had to do something because Chara was-” they had to cut off their rushed apology to take a deep breath.  
“SANS,” Papyrus said quietly, “YOU ARE SCARING THE HUMAN.” He had to work to keep his own hands from trembling, too. He would never say so, but when his brother got like that is scared him. Although he knew Sans would never leave any permanent damage, he had hurt people before without even realizing what he was doing. Sans turned to him, and Papyrus forced himself to stare back until the light returned to Sans’ eyes.  
“you’re right. sorry pap,” he sighed. “it doesn’t matter anyway. it’s not like we’ll remember any of this next time, right?”  
The human sunk deeper into the couch. “Actually... it’s not perfect, but Papyrus does have... some recall ability now.” Sans froze and glared, but the lights were still there, thankfully.  
“you mean like dreams and stuff? yeah, we all get those,” he said, sounding a little bit desperate.  
The human shook their head. “Maybe it would be better if I started from the start?”  
“THAT WOULD MAKE THINGS MUCH LESS CONFUSING, YES!”  
The human explained everything about their time-altering powers and Chara first, just to make sure Papyrus was up to speed and to fill in any blanks for Sans (who clearly wasn’t comfortable with Papyrus knowing these things). They took a quick break after that, making sure everyone properly understood.  
“WE GOT OUT OF THE UNDERGROUND?”  
“well, that would explain this,” Sans said, pulling a photo of everyone. They were standing in real sunlight, actually outside.  
“You never told me how you managed to keep that,” the human (who said their name was Frisk) said.  
“you never told me why you reset that time,” he countered. Papyrus was about to break the tension when the human spoke.  
“You told me to,” they admitted, which wasn’t the answer either of them were expecting. “That’s the part of the story that happened to me only recently. See, I had told you all of that before, Sans, when we got out. Eventually, we decided that keeping it to ourselves just wasn’t working out, so we were going to tell everyone. There was only one loose end to tie up first: Chara. They were still... in me, deep down. They never had the power to make me do anything, but they still put thoughts in my head. So we decided to erase them. Killing them wouldn’t do, and would probably kill me, but if they never existed in the first place...”  
“like gaster...”  
“Exactly,” Frisk said with a smile.  
“AND GASTER IS...?”  
“i’m not exactly sure,” Sans said. “some... thing that started using my machine to talk to me. it gave me hints about what to look for and who to trust, and eventually asked for my help. it had been erased from all timelines somehow.”  
“After we got to the surface, Sans and I started looking for him,” Frisk cut in. “And after a long time, we managed to find him. While we couldn’t do anything to help him, he decided to help us. He started training me to erase things, and... well, we’re lucky I never finished that training. As I learned, Chara learned too. Somehow we didn’t think of that. They managed to RESET without me, and we knew they would try to erase everyone instead of killing them. At first, we stalled, trying to find them without RESETTING, but we changed our minds when... when Papyrus felt one of his other selves being killed.”  
“I WHAT?” Papyrus yelled. Sans was still rooted to the spot, but his eye lights got even smaller.  
“After me, you’re the one that's linked most strongly to your other selves, Pap. We ran some tests. Even without outside ‘help’ like what Chara was doing, when you focused you could experience things from their point of view,” Frisk explained.  
“we ran tests on pap?” Sans asked, in barely more than a whisper.  
“He nearly died, Sans. We were so desperate after that, you and me both, so how could we not? Besides, Papyrus was as eager to help as always.” Frisk paused. “Huh. ‘Like always’. Maybe that’s why. In everything but the most drastically changed timelines, Pap is pretty much the same. But we’re getting off track. I’ve been RESETTING and living through so many timelines to get to the one Chara was in. In the timeline before this one, I could actually feel that I would be in the same one as them. It... wasn’t a pleasant feeling. I tried to call you, Sans, but since I didn’t have your number I had to call Papyrus and try to get a hold of you that way. But I ran out of time, and I had to let Papyrus remember instead. As long as one person remembers me, I can break free from Chara when they get too strong. Without that, I would have just been consumed and there would be no-one to stop them. Since Papyrus remembered, I could split a timeline around him surviving. Well, there’s a lot more science and magic and soul junk to that, plus all the time travel blarg that I just don’t want to go into right now, but that’s basically it.”  
“THAT’S... A LOT OF STUFF TO THINK ABOUT,” Papyrus said. It really did explain a lot, not just about recent events.  
“kid. you wouldn’t be telling us all this if you didn’t want us to do something about it. so, what is it?” Sans was still tense.  
“I-I kinda need... Pap to help me get back to Chara and fight them before-” Frisk’s words were cut off as they were thrown across the room by Sans’ blue magic.  
“SANS!” Papyrus gasped as he smashed Frisk against the walls and ceiling. Papyrus caught the human right before Sans slammed them into the floor. Both brothers struggled for a moment.  
“there’s no way you’re doing this, pap. according to the kid, that thing almost killed you from across timelines, and you want me to let you face it head-on?”  
“BUT IF I CAN HELP, SHOULDN’T I? IF I HAVE SOME SORT OF SPECIAL POWER... ISN’T IT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO DO THE RIGHT THING?”  
Sans stopped, crumpled onto the couch, and released Frisk. “you’re right again pap. alright kid, if he really wants to do it... but i’m coming with you two.”  
Frisk nodded and made their way back over to the couch. Papyrus sat between them as subtly as he could. “You’re not going to like it if you do,” they warned. “Chara’s runs have always been especially hard for you. Right now there are two timelines going on: one in which I was in control the whole time, so no-one’s dead. And another in which Chara was in control the whole time. Do either of you know what that looks like?” They both shook their head, glancing at each other nervously. Now that they were definitely going through with this, it was starting to get scary. “Alright. I think I can pull out two more memories. Just... gimme a second, and be ready to catch me if I pass out.”  
Papyrus was about to protest, but the human placed a finger right between each brother’s eyes before he could. For a second it felt like the whole world was falling apart, and there was a strange rushing noise in his head. It passed, leaving behind hazy memories of learning a strange new skill. Feeling what his other selves were feeling...  
Frisk wavered a little, and Papyrus just managed to catch them before they hit the ground. “Thanks. Did it work?”  
“i think so. neat trick, kid.”  
“It was actually you and Papyrus that came up with it. Once you two got going, you came up with so many new skills you wanted me to learn. It was kind of exhausting trying to keep up with the two of you,” Frisk laughed. They were still a little pale, but they sat up straight. “Anyway. Right now the easiest timeline to focus on should be the one Pap and I just left. But... Maybe Papyrus should try first. I need him to check something for me.”  
Papyrus nodded, focusing the way he remembered being taught. He could feel the magic folding and sliding between timelines the right way, through those wrinkles, but he couldn’t find anything in that timeline to hold on to. He said as much to Frisk.  
“I thought so,” they said sadly. “You’re welcome to try it yourself Sans, but you probably won’t like what you see.”  
Sans frowned at that, and Papyrus asked “WHAT DOES IT MEAN THOUGH? THAT I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING? DID I DO IT WRONG?”  
“No, Pap, you were fine,” Frisk said, then dropped their voice to a low whisper so that Sans didn’t hear. “It means the you in that timeline is... dead.”  
“OH. THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE A FUN TIME AT ALL. SHOULDN’T WE TELL SANS BEFORE HE SEES?”  
“Hah, I don’t really have enough HP left to deliver that news. Besides, it’s a little too late for that now,” they said gesturing at Sans. He was in that trance-like state that Papyrus had seen in his memories. It meant he was already looking, and judging by that expression, what he was seeing wasn’t very good. Sans gasped, snapping back after a moment. He was shaking all over. The first thing he did was give Papyrus a huge hug.  
“i changed my mind. no fighting chara for you,” he said, his voice muffled through the hug.  
“BUT SANS, IF I DON’T... THAT WILL BE ALL PAPYRUSES, WON’T IT?” He looked over at Frisk for confirmation, and they nodded. “BESIDES, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CANNOT FAIL! NOT WITH MY FRIENDS BY MY SIDE!”  
“oh, bro. that’s so corny. have you been hanging out with alphys again?” Sans laughed.  
Papyrus was still scared, but seeing his brother finally happy was pretty comforting.


	4. Shortcuts and Old Labs

Papyrus was feeling pretty proud of himself. He had managed to look into a bunch of timelines, and half of them were ones even Frisk didn’t know existed. Not that it was all happy though. In fact, it was usually pretty bad. A lot of the time he was spared the worst of it, because most of the bad stuff seemed to keep happening to Sans. Of course, he would have preferred at least some of it happening to him if it would spare his brother some pain. Too bad a lot of the other Papyruses were pretty ignorant, because they didn’t know all of this timeline stuff.  
But he could at least help his Sans. Right now he was sitting on the floor, staring at Frisk and shaking. The human had mostly been focusing on Sans, since he was the only one that could see the timeline they were interested in.  
“Well?” they asked. They weren’t exactly being _unkind_ , but they could have softened their tone a little bit.  
“it’s... not going well. chara managed to kill m- him,” Sans said. He had stopped staring and started looking anywhere but at the human, or Papyrus. By now, Papyrus had seen enough timelines to know when his brother was lying. Even with such large differences in personality between Sans-es, his brother never changed at his core.  
“SANS, YOU ARE LOOKING VERY TIRED,” he said. The constant peeking between timelines really did look like it was tiring him out. It would be better if his brother could have at least a small break.  
“don’tcha mean... _bone_ tired, bro? ” Sans laughed.  
Papyrus glared. “... HE’S WELL ENOUGH FOR PUNS. BUT I’M GOING TO GO MAKE SOMETHING ANYWAY! WE FORGOT ABOUT OUR MUGS OF SPAGHETTI, SO THEY’RE ALL COLD.”  
He picked up the mugs and put them in the sink, then got to making some more.  
“i’ll just have a nap. should be good to keep going after that,” he heard Sans say. It was good that he was going to rest. Papyrus heard his brother’s door close as Frisk walked in.  
“THAT LOOK ON YOUR FACE... YOU ARE UNHAPPY WITH SOMETHING?” Papyrus said.  
Frisk sighed and sat on the counter next to where he was cooking. “He’s just not telling us something.”  
“SANS DOES DO THAT, YES. BUT HE IS HELPING ANYTWAY,” he said. “I’M SURE IF WHATEVER HE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT IS IMPORTANT HE’LL TELL US WHAT IT IS. AFTER ALL, HE WOULD NEVER PUT US IN DANGER!”  
Frisk gave it a thought, and then smiled. “Heh. You’re probably right. Thanks, Pap. You know, at first I regretted roping you into this, because I didn’t want to upset you, but you’re taking it really well. I’m glad we can talk about like this now.”  
“OH, HUMAN! I’M GLAD TOO!” he said, sweeping the human up into a hug. They giggled and hugged him back. Their laughter was cut off by a huge yawn. “WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME _YOU_ RESTED, FRISK? ”  
“Oh, I-” they started, but interrupted themselves with another yawn. “I don’t know. A couple of timelines ago?”  
Papyrus _tsk_ ed and brought the human over to the couch. Using a spare cape of his as a blanket, he tucked them in. “WOULD YOU LIKE A BEDTIME STORY? I HAVE ‘PEEK-A-BOO WITH FLUFFY BUNNY’ UPSTAIRS.”  
Frisk shook their head with a smile, and then rolled over and fell asleep. He finished making the spaghetti, had his share, and then started to head to his room. But something seemed wrong. He wondered if he should wake someone up to talk about it, but he didn’t know exactly what would tell them. It was just a feeling, and he would need more than that. So he sat against the wall and closed his eyes, letting his mind slip between timelines. And finally, after searching for it all day, he found the timeline he and Frisk had come from. It must have been RESET, so he was alive again! With a small smile, Papyrus decided to check in on his alternate self.

He had seen a human walking by! For a moment, he had planned to engage them in wonderful banter and glorious puzzles, but then something occurred to him. Where was Sans? He had been stationed back where the human had come from. Had he fallen asleep again? He would certainly get a talking to when Papyrus got back there.  
“SANS? SANS!” he called as he reached Sans’ post. Looking around, he saw a splash of blue in the snow in front of the ruins door. “THERE YOU ARE, SANS! NAPPING ON THE JOB AGAIN!” He marched over and grabbed Sans by the hood of his jacket, pulling him up and-  
Dust streamed from the jacket.  
“SANS...? IF THIS IS A PRANK, IT IS NOT VERY FUNNY,” he said, trembling. He waited for Sans to walk out from behind a tree, chuckling. “ARE YOU WAITING FOR ME TO LAUGH? OKAY, HERE I GO, LAUGHING. NYEH H-HEH, YOU GOT ME. YOU CAN... YOU CAN COME OUT NOW! S-SANS?” He fell to his knees hugging the jacket to his chest. “You can come out now...”

Papyrus had to wrench himself back to his right timeline. He stared off into space, still shaking. He didn’t even notice the human approaching him, still wrapped in his cape.  
“Papyrus?” they said, making him jump a little. They sunk into the cape a little, nervously twisting it in their hands as they looked away. “Chara was... really happy just then. I could feel it. Did... they kill you again?”  
“NOT... QUITE,” he said, looking over at Sans’ door. The human looked between him and the door a few times. Without a word, they walked over to Sans’ room and knocked.  
“Sans?” they called. “I think something happened in the other timeline! Papyrus and I both felt something! Are you okay?” They both listened closely, and Papyrus almost hoped for some sort of terrible pun. Instead, there was some sort of garbled coughing. Papyrus jumped to his feet as Frisk rattled the doorknob and cried out, “Oh no... no no no no no! Sans, sit tight! Whatever’s happening, we’re gonna fix it!” They backed away from Sans’ room. “Papyrus! We need to get this door open!” Papyrus summoned up one of his stronger bones and smashed the door handle, the force of the blow throwing the door open.  
Sans was lying on the floor, melting. Why was he _melting_? Before he or Frisk could make a move, Sans too hold of Frisk with blue magic and threw the human across the room. Papyrus only just had enough time to catch them before they slammed into the wall. What was Sans doing?  
“ b-bro...” Sans said, looking up at him. As soon as they made eye contact, his brother writhed in pain and released the human. His blue magic flared up even further, spreading to everything but his right eye. “ **bro, get yourself and the kid out of here.** ”  
Papyrus moved to do as Sans said, but stopped. The human was already getting up, so they would be fine. It was Sans that they needed to worry about now. “N-NO! SORRY, SANS, BUT AS THE ‘MOST COOL’ BROTHER, I CAN’T LEAVE YOU HERE.”  
“Papyrus. If we can bring him to Hotland, I might know how to fix this,” Frisk said, rushing toward the door. Papyrus was about to try to scoop up Sans in his arms, but he would probably just ooze through them. Repulsed by the thought, he used blue magic instead. It would be a long run to Hotland, but he’d run further with Undyne all the time. But would Sans make it? Just before he stepped out of the house, he noticed more of those wrinkles in the corner of the kitchen. When he moved, he could swear he saw Alphys’ lab there.  
“Papyrus, we really don’t have time for whatever this is,” Frisk said, gently tugging on his cape. “We need to get to Alphys now.”  
Finally, he understood something Sans had always said. “I THINK... I KNOW A SHORTCUT.”

Papyrus, Sans, and Frisk appeared right in the middle of Alphys’ lab, making her fall out of her chair. For once, that giant monitor of hers was off. As soon as they were definitely in Alphys’ lab instead of somewhere in-between, Frisk let go of Papyrus’ cape and ran over to Alphys.  
“We need to get into the True Lab!” Frisk said, not bothering with niceties.  
“T-true lab? What does th-that even mean?” she asked, laughing nervously.  
“ALPHYS, PLEASE. IF YOU KNOW WHAT THE HUMAN IS LOOKING FOR...” Papyrus said. For the first time, Alphys saw what was happening to Sans.  
“O-oh my g-god. What-?”  
“ **Alphys. True Lab. _Now_ ,**” the human said, almost managing to imitate Sans’ serious voice. Alphys was appropriately terrified. She led them to her bathroom, which turned out to be an elevator down into a dark, medical-like facility that gave Papyrus the chills. Once they hit the bottom floor, Frisk grabbed Papyrus’ hand and ran him down a few corridors until they reached a large, intimidating machine.  
“HUMAN, WHAT IS THAT?” Papyrus asked.  
“Pap, I’ll explain everything as soon as possible, but right now we don’t have time. I just hope this works like the one Sans showed me before...” For the first time in their frantic attempt to save Sans, the human paused. “J-just... lay him down in front of it and try to... make him look like himself as best you can.” Shakily, Papyrus did as the human said as they climbed into the huge machine. He hadn’t used his blue magic for something so finicky in a long time, and whenever he got one part right another slipped. “Ready, Pap?” the human called, poking their head out.  
“WAIT! HIS EYE WON’T...!” For a few tense moments, the human watched him try to fix his brother’s eye.  
“Papyrus, it’s not working. Just hold him like that and step back!” Papyrus remained, trying with all his might to fix things. “Papyrus! It’s his eye or his life! Step! Back!” There was nothing he could do. He hoped Sans would forgive him. Moving back until he was right against the wall, he nodded the Frisk, who ducked back into the machine. There were huge clanging and grinding noises, and a high-pitched whining filled the air. Suddenly, a blast of light shot out of the ‘mouth’ of the machine, covering his brother. Only Sans’ screams of pain and the feeling of his soul in the blue magic told Papyrus that he was alive. When the light cleared, a single, shining red thread was being pulled from his brother’s soul into the machine. The human jumped out of it, brushing themself down. “Judging from how much determination was in him before, that’s going to take a while. Can you hold him until it’s done?”  
Papyrus nodded, too shocked to speak.

It took hours before Frisk told Papyrus he could let go of Sans. While they waited, Frisk explained the way determination affected monsters.  
“BUT... HOW DID SANS GET SO MUCH DETERMINATION?” Papyrus asked through gritted teeth. He was starting to tire.  
“I’m not entirely sure...” Frisk admitted, “but I have a theory. Keep in mind, this could be all wrong. But, remember when I said that I split a timeline around you? One path for sparing you, one path for, um, killing you? I think that somehow, Chara did the same thing but with Sans. But there was one big difference: when I split the timeline, it created a new one for when you were spared. When Chara split it, it may have combined that Sans and our Sans. That would explain why he attacked me before. The other Sans would have only remembered me as a killer. This extra determination could have come from there too. After all, monsters can make it, even if they can’t hold it. Two Sans-es worth of determination would be more than enough to cause... this.” They gestured toward where Sans was lying. Papyrus wasn’t sure he understood all of it, but he got enough of what was going on. “Oh, hey, he’s starting to look better. I think you can let him go if you want.” Exhausted, Papyrus gladly released the blue magic.  
"WILL HE BE ALRIGHT?” Papyrus asked. He was too tired to get up.  
“Well, he’ll live,” they muttered.

Frisk forced Papyrus to go eat something, since he refused to sleep. They left Alphys to watch Sans, and let her put a bandage around Sans’ eye, while they went to the Nice Cream stall outside. When he got back down to the ‘True Lab’, he helped Alphys and the human move Sans to an out-of-the-way room. It only had a bed, a shelf, and a mirror, so Papyrus had to find a chair in another room to sit at his brother’s bedside. He didn’t know how long he spent trying to heal Sans’ eye, but it was long enough that he had exhausted all of the magic he had gotten from the Nice Cream, and almost everything else he had in him. If he had been a bit quicker, or a bit better...  
“Hey,” the human said. “Don’t beat yourself up. You did really well. Without you, he’d be dead.”  
“I SUPPOSE... YES! HUMAN, WE MANAGED TO SAVE MY BROTHER! THAT WAS... TERRIFYING!” Papyrus said. As long as he stayed positive, things had to turn out alright!  
“There’s just one thing, though,” the human said, shifting awkwardly and leaning against the wall. “Y’see, the problem is, we don’t know which Sans we just saved.”  
“OUR SANS, OF COURSE!” Papyrus said. He was feeling a little woozy from magic deprivation, which would probably explain the sudden high.  
“They’re all technically ours.”  
Alphys nervously raised a hand and said, “I st-still have n-n-no idea what’s h-happening.”  
Papyrus was about to explain when the human shot him a look. “Sorry, Alphys. We appreciate the help, but we can’t tell you.”  
“R-r-right. I’ll j-just... go?” she asked.  
“Thanks,” the human said, not looking at her. They were still watching Sans.  
“I’M SURE IT WILL BE FINE!” Papyrus said, waving as Alphys left. He wasn’t sure why she looked so upset on such a nice day. Frisk sighed and gave him their last Nice Cream, and the buzz of magic deprivation wore off as he ate. Once he was done, they pointed at Sans.  
“... That smile... isn’t a good sign,” they said. Now that they mentioned it, that smile looked exactly like the one the other Sans wore through the entire timeline. Papyrus tightened his grip on Sans’ hand. As soon as he did, Sans’ eye snapped open, glowing ever-so-slightly blue.  
“SANS?” Papyrus asked. It had to be their Sans. It had to be.  
Sans blinked once, his eye going back to its usual white. “sup bro?” he said, flinching.  
“Can you stand?” Frisk asked, edging a little closer to the door. Papyrus almost felt like following them, but stayed by his brother’s side.  
“anything for you, kid. i’m... _putty in your hands_. ” Everyone in the room flinched at that, and even Sans didn’t really laugh at it. Papyrus wondered if Sans knew exactly how bad it was.  
“WE TRIED TO FIX YOU THE BEST WE COULD, BUT... UM...” He didn’t know where to start.  
“Best just let him see for himself,” Frisk sighed, waving toward the mirror, clearly uncomfortable.  
All of Sans’ movements were stiff and uncoordinated. He almost fell over the moment he tried to stand, and Papyrus had to support him despite being close to collapse himself. Sans was clearly disturbed by his reflection, but at least he had stopped grinning for a moment. Then he took the bandages off his eye. The grin snapped back into place and he started hyperventilating. Papyrus held him steady and wrapped him in a hug, like he always did. Sans returned it, his arms weak but his fingers clawing into Papyrus’ cape. Papyrus held onto him and tried to subtly use some healing magic until he felt his breathing go back to normal.  
“well. i’m not dead,” he said eventually.  
The human moved forward a little and started to explain. “That’s thanks to Papyrus. If he hadn’t found that shortcut over here, we never would have gotten you to the DT Extraction Machine in time. Once we got you here he kind of... pushed you back into shape with blue magic while we removed all the excess determination. The only thing that pushed back was your eye, so we couldn’t fix it properly. Sorry, but it’s stuck like that. Even healing magic wouldn’t fix it. Papyrus tried for a while.”  
Even with his failure on the eye, Papyrus felt a little proud of himself. He gave a tired thumbs up, struggling to stay upright.  
“aw, pap. were you worried about me?” Sans asked. Papyrus didn’t have the energy to reply outside of a nod.  
“He hasn’t slept for about... about two days now. He spent most of the time trying to heal you,” Frisk said. Had it really been that long? They walked over and put a hand on Papyrus’ shoulder. “Now that he’s up, maybe you should get some rest, Pap.”  
Papyrus was about to agree when he felt Sans go completely still. His left eye was burning brightly. “D O N’ T T O U C H H I M, Y O U D I R T Y B R O T H E R K I L L E R.” Frisk moved back toward the door, and Papyrus held onto his brother. He would hold him there while the human ran and- Sans shifted, blinking away the glow and frowning. “frisk... sorry, i don’t know what happened there.”  
Frisk was still backing away, smiling weakly. “N-no problem. I mean, even if you- if anything did happen, I could just LOAD, right? I’m just gonna go... check on Alphys. She must be pretty confused right now,” they said with a nervous laugh. Once they were gone, Papyrus turned back to his brother.  
“DON’T WORRY, SANS. TOMORROW, WE’RE GONNA GO TAKE CARE OF CHARA. THEN THIS WILL ALL BE OVER, RIGHT?” Papyrus said. He knew he wasn’t thinking straight, because he was back on that high, but it seemed reasonable enough.  
“yeah. sure, bro. sure.” Sans said, holding on a little tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, still too long. Oh well! Special extra-long update today! Oh, wait, make that tonight. Jeez, so tired, made so many spelling mistakes just then. My writing looks like it's drunk. Lemme go fix that.  
> Random thought for today: I would totally watch an animated film clip of 'Pompeii' by Bastille focused on Sans. It totally fits!


	5. Frisk and Chara

Papyrus shuffled back to Snowdin, still holding his brother’s jacket. He had gathered up as much dust as he could and was carrying it, trying to think of what to spread it on. What would Sans have wanted? How could Papyrus not know? Sans had kept secrets, but Papyrus should have known what Sans’ favorite thing was. He should have asked. He shouldn’t have had to ask.  
Snowdin was abandoned, and for the first time, Papyrus understood why. He wondered why he didn’t realize sooner. The rush of people fleeing, leaving behind everything except the clothes on their backs... Had he just... ignored it? What kind of a Royal Guard did that? But he wasn’t part of the Royal Guard. What was he even thinking when he saw everyone running? He couldn’t remember.  
Remember...?  
A flash, and the memory of the human smiling sweetly up at them, smiling right before cutting him down. Doing puzzles. Not doing puzzles. Hugs. Killing. Again and again and again, running in circles and he never saw anything. He never let himself see anything. It kept going, over and over, and he never noticed. Even when he did, he just stopped paying attention. Never asking questions. Never, never, never asking Sans anything. What did he really know about his brother anyway? He tried to remember-  
REMBER.  
So many Sans-es, too many to focus on. There were thousands, millions, too many, and they were all different. Little things like his nervous twitches or exactly what his smile looked like, he couldn’t tell. Bigger things like how he dressed, the kind of sweater, lab coat, hoodie, sweater, slippers, sneakers he wore. There were some that were too different, sometimes he was horrible to Sans, sometimes they were best friends, brothers, experiments, younger, older, twins, happy sad crying dead dyinghurtbleedingsaucewakingupand _heignoreditallneveraskednevernever **WHICHSANSWASHISWHATDIDHISBROTHEREVENLOOKLIKEWHEREWOULDHEPUTTHEDUST-?**_

Papyrus screamed himself awake, clutching his head in his hands. He was shaking and crying, and he still felt cold. But he could remember Sans. He knew which one was his Sans, it was okay, he didn’t even remember the other ones. The other timelines were already fading in his mind, and he let them. He knew, or could feel, that focusing on them would bring that pain back. His skull still ached. He needed to see Sans, just to make sure he was in the right timeline. When he was ‘spying’ on the other Papyrus, it was like he was actually there. His memories of his own timeline were a blur in the background, and he was only vaguely aware that it wasn’t the same him. It was... really scary. Was this why Sans was always so _rattled_? Sans would appreciate that one. He had to remember it. Wait, actually, no, that would mean telling Sans about how scared he was, and he couldn’t do that to his brother. That, and trying to re- no, thinking of things that had happened in the past was getting to be too much.  
That was enough moping. He allowed himself one more sob before getting up and wiping away his tears. Checking his reflection in the mirror and ignoring the deja-vu that came with the action, he marched out to Sans’ room.  
“ SANS, ARE YOU-?” But Sans wasn’t there. Papyrus had to relax. He had probably just switched rooms or something. If Papyrus looked around, he was sure to find him. Still, he had to lean against the doorframe to steady himself and accidentally knocked down a note that had been taped to the door. With a sigh of relief, he picked it up. This had to tell him where his brother was.  
'Papyrus,' it said in the careful handwriting of someone that wasn’t used to pen and paper. 'I’ve taken Sans to the Judgement Hall to have a talk. Just in case you don’t know where that is, there is a map on the back of this letter. Can you meet us there? It’ time to get rid of Chara once and for all. ~~Love~~ From Frisk'  
Swallowing his fear, he turned the note over and followed the map, making sure to thank Alphys for letting them stay as he left her lab. The map led him to a hallway filled with golden light. Sans and Frisk were standing there talking about something. “Oh! Papyrus! Glad you could make it!” Frisk said when they noticed him. They walked over and took Papyrus’ hand with a smile. “Are you ready?” they asked, leading him toward the center of the hallway. “We’re going to do something a little risky, but I’ve crunched the numbers and it should work out fine. You’ll have to stand about... here,” they pointed to the spot they had been standing before, “and Sans, I’m going to need you to move out of the way. I need to stand there.” Sans looked confused, but moved off to lean against a pillar. “Alright. Papyrus, I am sorry about this.” They paused as Sans’ eye flared and tilted their head toward him. “Sans. If you could let go of my soul, that would be pretty helpful.”  
“ you’ll have to tell me what you’re doing first, kid,” he said.  
Frisk sighed. “We’re going to pull our realities together. With what I know about Chara and what information you two have given me about the other timeline, I’m almost certain that they and Papyrus are the only ones left alive in that timeline. That means we’re the only ones that will be affected. For Pap, it should only be a few moments of disorientation before he’s back to normal. Exactly like remembering a previous timeline. For me... well, since it’s Chara there instead of just an alternate me, there’s a chance that I’ll be destroyed, or at least suppressed. If that happens then I’m counting on the two of you to kill me.” Papyrus started to object, but Frisk talked over him. “I’ve made a SAVE just outside this room, Pap. If I die, I’ll just go back there. Hey, I won’t even be taking away any of your memories by doing that this time, so we won’t have to go through this conversation again! Anyway, it’s not like it’s _definitely_ going to happen.”  
Papyrus glanced over at Sans, not sure what to say. Frisk made it sound so reasonable, which was slightly disturbing considering the plan involved probably killing them. Sans looked at Papyrus for a second before shrugging and releasing Frisk.  
“ as long as you’re sure pap will be fine,” he said, looking at the ground.  
“I know it,” they said before turning back to Papyrus. “Okay! So you need to start by ‘spying’ on your other self. But you need to keep your sense of this self. Hold onto that feeling and use it to pull that other Papyrus back here. I’m going to do the same with Chara, which normally wouldn’t work, but with the only other inhabitant of that world being pulled here they’ll have to cooperate.”  
Papyrus nodded and was about to start when a thought occurred to him. “WHAT IF THERE ARE OTHER INHABITANTS LEFT ALIVE? WILL THIS STILL WORK?”  
Frisk paused, then nodded. “Yes, a majority being pulled here should still force Chara back into my soul. And anyone else who’s affected will probably be confused at first, but without the power I gave you those memories will fade eventually.” Sans and Papyrus glanced at each other, sharing the same concern. They both knew how badly all the alternate memories could affect someone. “Guys. If we don’t do this, Chara may kill everyone. Forever. In all timelines. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and this is one of those times.”  
“ALRIGHT. LET’S... LET’S SAVE EVERYONE!” Papyrus said, pushing his magic through time once more.

When Papyrus first saw the shining hallway there was a second of wonder and a sense of deja-vu. “Is this the place, Sans?” he muttered to himself, even though he already knew the answer. He could feel that he was exactly where he was supposed to be. He probably would have loved the place. It had a wonderful illusion of real light. Orange, like his eyes, or some sort of sunset that would never end.  
He didn’t have time to enjoy it. The human approached, grinning. “Hey there, Papyrus. Trying to get in my way again?” They turned their knife over in their hands. “You can feel it, can’t you? This time, I’m not going to spare you. Because we’ve finally arrived at this final game. This is what I’ve needed you for. Because what’s a good game without a final boss? And goodness knows that pathetic weed won’t be a challenge. It’s already killed the monster king to try to appease me. Such an unexpected surprise. I’ll have to punish it for that later.”  
“Human. While you were passing through Snowdin, did you happen to visit the librarby?” Papyrus asked. The human just tilted their head curiously. “There is a fascinating book there on monster funerals. You’ve probably read it already, being as obsessed with funerals as you are. So you would know that when a monster’s dust is spread on their favorite thing, then their essence will live on in that thing. At first, I didn't know what to spread his dust over. But after seeing so many Sans-es, I realized... It was me. My brother loved me. Human... Your life is going down a dangerous path. And if you take one more step down that path... **my bro and I will make sure you _burn in hell_.** ” Papyrus’ eyes glowed orange flecked with blue as the human charged. The knife shined in the light from the windows and the glowing of Papyrus’ blasters. He stepped out of the way of the knife. Bones burst from the ground, slamming into the human and throwing them into the roof. Papyrus caught them with blue magic as they fell and smashed them into one of the pillars. The human sprinted out of the cloud of dust, giggling madly.  
“Such fun! I wonder, will you bleed too, Papyrus?” they asked through the laughter and the impact of Papyrus’ attack. He slammed them against the walls and ceiling, blasting them after each impact. They didn’t even try to dodge. They just laughed. They were really kind of a freak. He slammed them into the ground, right back where they started. He took a moment to catch his breath after the effort of that last assault and Chara stood on shaky legs.  
“Aren’t you going to finish it, Papyrus?” they asked. But... “Papyrus?” The human... “ _Come on, Papyrus! I know you can do it! I believe in you!_ ” Frisk!  
There was a strangely familiar wrenching on his soul, and then he was back in the undamaged Judgement Hall, facing Frisk. They were clutching at their chest and breathing heavily. Sans, who was so _alive_ Papyrus almost cried, had taken a few steps forward. Frisk screeched in pain, toppling over and writhing on the ground. Papyrus started to run toward them, but Sans was suddenly in front of him, blocking his path. Papyrus could almost feel the fear rolling off him in waves.  
“ wait.”  
Frisk’s screams started to slowly and horrifically shift into delighted laughter. “Oh! Well!” they said, rising to their feet like some sort of demented puppet. “What _have_ we done now? Hmm... Hahaha, I can almost taste the lives left in this timeline. Can you sense them too, Sans?” They licked their lips, pulling a sickly red, pulsating knife from behind their back. “I don’t suppose you’ll wait for me to devour them before our climactic battle?” Sans threw them into the ceiling. “Didn’t think so.” the sighed as they fell, flipping and landing perfectly on their feet. “I suppose now is as good a time as any to test some of my new _special attacks_.” They disappeared with a grin. Were they using shortcuts? They appeared right behind Sans, and would have hit him if Papyrus hadn’t thrown a bone between them. Sans tried to shoot them with a blaster, but they disappeared and Papyrus had to duck out of the way of the blast.  
“ damn! sorry, bro i-” he started to say, but Papyrus cut him off.  
“WE NEED TO STAY BACK TO BACK!” he shouted, and Sans nodded. There would be time to talk later. Chara appeared again, this time inches from Papyrus’ face, and was smacked away by a ring of bones and thrown into the roof by Sans’ blue magic. They appeared at the other end of the room. “One hit is all I need,” the giggled. Papyrus grabbed them again and slammed them into the floor, holding them there as he sent a rush of bones their way. But they all turned blue before they hit the human, passing harmlessly through them. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it.  
“ **pap!** ” Sans yelled, flinging bones at something above his head. He looked up to see another version of the human pinned to the ceiling, dripping with blood where Sans’ attack ran through them. While he was distracted, Sans killed the human Papyrus was holding down, too. The laughter of a thousand Charas filled the hall. A crowd of tiny humans stepped out from behind the pillars, each one holding one of those dangerous-looking knives.  
“One hit...” they all said at once. They charged, some leaping, some going straight for them, others ducking low. Papyrus and Sans moved as one, using every bone, blaster, and ounce of magic they had, but every time they beat one away, other would be right there to take its place. And, even though each human was trying their hardest to kill them, Papyrus still flinched at the sound of their tiny bones cracking, the smell of them being vaporized by the blasters and the steady _drip-drip-drip-drip_ of blood that seemed to be keeping time for the desperate battle. Some of the humans even shrieked in pain, sounding so much like Frisk. Was his little human friend feeling every strike?  
“ **focus, pap,** ” Sans said through gritted teeth. He was grinning. Was he _enjoying_ himself? Of course not. Papyrus could almost... no, he _could_ feel how scared his brother was. But he would have time to think about that later. Trying his hardest to ignore the sickening sound of the battle, he pushed on. He had to protect his brother. Even if Chara’s erasing trick didn’t work, it would still only take one hit for Sans to die. He wouldn’t let that happen again. And with that thought came a rush of determination that made everything brighter and clearer. Not only that, but within the depths of Chara’s soul, he could feel something resonating. A quick glance at Sans proved that he felt it too. Without a word, they agreed on a course of action. Releasing an explosion of bones and blaster fire that pushed back the wave of humans and shattered the windows, they both screamed, “ ** _FRISK!_** ”  
A Lost Soul appeared.  
[*This is all just a game.]  
Sans took a step towards the kid. “you’re very determined. No matter what, you’ll just keep going.” The Lost Soul vaguely recalls having to think outside the box.  
[*I can do whatever I want.]  
Papyrus moved toward the human. “EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! I, PAPYRUS, WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR!” The Lost Soul doesn’t want to do a violence.  
[*One RESET and I can start over.]  
Both brothers took the final steps toward Frisk. “you didn’t get this far by giving up.” “YOU HAVE SOMETHING CALLED DETERMINATION.” “so as long as you hold on...” “SO AS LONG AS YOU DO WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART...” “ _We believe you can do the right thing._ ”  
The Lost Soul is filled with determination!  
“We’re going to SAVE everyone!” Frisk said, wrapping both brothers in a hug. Together, they turned to face what remained of Chara. The thing was swaying on their feet, but still standing.  
They laughed, but it sounded thinner and more desperate. “We had a deal, Frisk. I brought this world back _after you_ _let me kill them all_. Your soul was the price you paid.”  
“And look how much use you got out of it,” Frisk said, gesturing to the piles of bodies that littered the hall. “I think you’ve had quite enough fun. And besides, when I gave you my soul... I never said you could keep it.”  
Chara let out a noise somewhere between laughter and screaming and raised their arms. Countless glowing red knives appeared, flying at the three companions. Frisk dodged with the grace of thousands of timelines worth of practice, while Papyrus and Sans protected each other without hesitation. Papyrus seized Chara’s soul with blue magic and dragged them to face Frisk, who spun under one of the glowing knives, grabbing it as it passed and ramming it deep into Chara’s soul. Their eyes dimmed, the ever-present grin widening slightly. “Heheh. Well done. I didn’t know... you had it in you...” Red dust started to peel away from Chara’s body, and all the other bodies lying still in the corners of the room. Soon, those specks were all that was left of the creature, catching the light as they danced away.  
There was an anxious pause. “Is it... really over?” Frisk asked, still facing away from the brothers. Their single tear hitting the floor was deafening in the silence. “We really did it. It’s finished...” They turned to face the two, a huge smile spreading across their face. “We won!” they cheered, exploding into a fit of relieved laughter. It was the first genuinely happy, non-murderous laugh Papyrus had heard for a while, and he couldn’t help but join in. He ran over to the human, sweeping them up and spinning around joyfully. He put them on his shoulders and ran back to Sans, hugging him too. Sans blinked once, as if not fully registering what was happening, before starting to laugh too.  
“ JUST WAIT UNTIL UNDYNE HEARS ABOUT THIS!” Papyrus managed between laughing and gasping for breath.  
They had _won!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh. You know, I was going to write one more confrontation with Chara (using that whole 'you sold your soul to me thing' to terrorize them one more time), but... I think I like this ending too much. Maybe it's best just to let them win!  
> There's going to be a short epilogue, and then more stories from this AU after this, so don't go away! The ‘more stories’ will explain anything that needs explaining, so don’t be afraid to ask about anything that’s confusing or left vague! It’ll help me see what I should write about first.


	6. Epilogue

Things changed after that day, and they stayed changed. Frisk said that eventually they may RESET so they could break the barrier, but they never seemed to get around to it. Sans had moved into Papyrus’ room and given his to Frisk, since they had nowhere to stay. Papyrus was so happy to be rooming with his brother again that he built them a bunk bed, and Sans promptly called the bottom bunk because he was ‘too lazy to climb up and down whenever he wanted a nap’.  
The dreams of other timelines hadn’t gone away. They exhausted Papyrus enough that he didn’t scream when he woke up, which was good. If he did, Sans would worry even more than he already did. Ever since the fight with Chara, Papyrus had a sense for what his brother was feeling. It probably had something to do with what the other Papyrus had done with his Sans’ dust. Sometimes Papyrus woke up in the middle of the night and could feel Sans panicking below him. He would always reach one arm over the side of the bed, and Sans would always hesitate for a second before he took it. They both slept easier when they were hand in hand.  
Papyrus had stopped ignoring all the bad things and was glad to find that there was nothing they couldn’t deal with. They had already been through the worst, after all, so he could handle a few bad dreams. Besides, there was much more good in his life than bad now.  
After hearing most of the story, leaving out all the time shenanigans and just telling her about fighting off a huge creature, Undyne had let him into the Royal Guard as ‘The Human’s Official Bodyguard’. Well, that was once she had been convinced that the human wasn’t too bad. It took a chase through Waterfall, a quick drink, and Papyrus heavily implying that she just wouldn’t be able to be friends with the human before she decided that they would be BESTIES. Other monsters tried to capture Frisk at first, but soon they had made friends with almost every monster in the Underground.  
They spent most of their time in Snowdin, making snowmen and having snowball fights. Sans would usually take the human to Grillby’s afterward, but they always left room for some spaghetti. Papyrus had almost mastered the art of spaghetti and was considering moving on to other pasta-based dishes.  
Eventually, Papyrus asked Sans about the science stuff he was doing, and what was really in the basement. Sans was hesitant at first, but quickly gave in. After all, Papyrus already knew most of it. Sometimes he would even talk about the machine he was working on and some of his theories about that Gaster fellow. Papyrus didn’t understand most of it, but it made Sans happy, and Papyrus liked being involved in his brother’s life again. Overall, knowing what else could have happened, Papyrus was sure they had achieved the best possible ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of this arc, but not the end of this AU. There are a few things I left a little vague on purpose, which will be expanded on in Part 3 of the Brothertale series! If there's anything you want me to expand on, be sure to ask about it in the comments!


End file.
